Back in November 2023, Houston Cars & Coffee organizers enacted a temporary ban on modern muscle cars, including the Chevy Camaro, after too many incidents of burnouts, donuts, and other reckless behavior. Well, it appears as though this temporary ban wasn’t enough, as muscle cars are now permanently banned from Houston Cars & Coffee events.
According to a report from AutoEvolution, the organizers released a post to social media explaining that “modern” muscle cars will no longer be welcome at their weekly meetups. This decision results from reckless demonstrations of poor driving habits on public roads crowded with pedestrians.
“Those who support this behavior aren’t true car enthusiasts,” the social media post reads. “It all starts with you. These are the so-called enthusiasts who have ruined our car gathering.”
It’s worth noting that “classic” muscle cars are not included in this exclusion. What qualifies as modern or classic is up for interpretation. Fifth- and sixth-generation Camaro models are surely considered modern and included in the ban, but the fourth-gen model that was discontinued in 2002 could be old enough to be considered classic.
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As one may expect, this decision has created quite an uproar among enthusiasts. Many folks have pointed out that this outcome is hardly fair for those who come on foot to see the muscle cars leave the gathering, as they are not responsible for the driver’s reckless behavior. Others highlight that not every Chevy Camaro or Ford Mustang driver has a habit of crashing into crowds or knocking over light posts.
A few suggestions have floated around since this decision was announced. Many propose that the Houston Cars & Coffee organizers ask for help from the police to enforce safe driving habits rather than exclude the muscle car crowd altogether.
In the organizer’s defense, plenty of examples of these poor driving habits exist. To that point, GM Authority reported on a Camaro ZL1 that was completely destroyed in a crash in the Houston, Texas area.
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Comments
Most of those classic car owners have modern performance envy and/or delusions of grandeur. The 6th gen Camaro hits too close to home for boomers and euro snobs as well.
Please define “euro snobs”. Thank you,
I am a boomer. Stepdad had a junkyard in Philadelphia. We owned a 59 vette, a 69 firebird with the 400 engine, a 70 super bee with a 383 among many other cars. I love my 2023 2SS Camaro. Retired aviator. Driving the Camaro is like flying a car on asphalt.
its racist to make the ban just for crowd hitting mustangs or takeover people with challengers, so they banned all modern muscle cars smh
RACIST ? How can banning a car be racist ?
Blame the car not the fool behind the wheel, good job Cars And Coffee!
If we ban all cars then we all would be safe from this reckless behavior.
Start pushing for common sense driving laws. cars and coffee, you lead the way!
Simpler solution would have been to invite LEO to cars and coffee. Then have LEO confiscate the car of anyone doing stupid things. Between tickets, towing and impound fees, I could see a 2-5 grand day for dummies. Not to mention insurance premium bump, assuming the owner has enough money to pay to get the car out of impound. And be sure to have local tv around to show what happens and the cost to would be street performers.
Leave a special zone for the following drivers who do stunt driving 🚗
Seems expensive to task a volunteer organization to pay for a law enforcement presence at their gathering. It’s not a huge draw at cars and coffee to see how much some very special boys who need to show off to crowds blew their tax returns at American Muscle… we get to see that at every stoplight, in every town, every day. These aren’t rare cars. It’s like going to a vintage wine tasting and bringing Franzia.
Why would C&C pay for LEO to show up? Seems to me if there is always this kind of behavior, LEO would be happy to show up to sell some tickets.
These guys should all be nailed by Johnny Law. It seems, there are always afew who ruin it for the rest. Hasn’t changed in a zillion years. If some acts up, pinch ’em hard. If the insurance Companies want extra cash, just drop by one of these “Performance Show Cases”. Found money.
Not everyone that owns a late model performance car is a youngster i have a 2011 Camaro SS and i just turned 78 but i get it we have the same problem where I’m from
Agreed! My wife has no interest in anything but Camaro/Firebird style & has refused to consider a Mustang or Corvette. We’re in our 60s now, but home to keep her 2022 SS Camaro going for a long time. Over the years we’ve had 1978 Firebird, 1979 TransAm, 1983 TransAm, 1987 Z28, 1994 Camaro, 2002 TransAm, & presently have 2013 SS Camaro & 2022 SS Camaro. We only sold the 2002 TransAm for a friend after she took deliver of the 2022 SS. We don’t live near this ban & don’t have any of these gatherings close to where we live, but it does seem a shame to exclude some people that have always enjoyed these type cars. Of course everyone know there are those idiot drivers of all makes/models that cause problems.
They’re really banning immature rich kids and stupid adults that buy a 50k performance car and think it makes them Sebastian Vettel. I think it goes too far, but I would endorse a “one strike” rule that bans them if the show off or defy rules just one time. I don’t think the problem is the 50 year old who’s made a few bucks and can finally swing a Corvette, Mustang GT or Hellcat.
Ok I have been involved with events like this. Here are the problems.
First most of the trouble has been the Mopar cars with a mix of new Camaro and Mustang.
Many times it is an immature driver that is yo blame age not needed.
You are faced with issues with the property owners wanting to kick you out.
You are faced with issues with insurance events like these need to carry.
The Police in most places are short handed and cannot able to provide security at these events as there are issues all over town.
The neighbors to these events are also complaining.
These events are not cheap or easy and can be destroyed by a small group. The older cars are worth too much to tear up and the exotics the same. The new cars are in part owned by a segment that does not respect the hobby.
We have tried to ban the trouble makers but that is not easy.
About the best you can do is get with the police and bust a couple cars and have them towed off. Sometimes it works some not.
Unfortunately there will fast cars and idiots.
THIS RULING IS FAIR BECAUSE IT KEEPS THE “RIFF RAFF” AWAY FROM THESE EVENTS. In the 1980s, we had a well-attended weekly Cruise-In in the Washington DC area. It was permanently shut down because a jerk with ’40 Willys did a wheelstand in the parking lot. Some guys don’t mind ruining it for others.
No matter what, there is always going to be those types that spoil things for everyone else. They are still in the growing stages of maturity or they have a case of the look at me syndrome.
It’s simple: pick a year, like 1975, and have it as a 1975 and older cars-only event. The Henry Ford Museum does that for one of its car shows.
I’m 61 years old. I own a 65 Dodge Coronet 500 convertible with a 383 4 speed, a Harley and a 18 Challenger Scat Pack T/A six speed and have owned and driven some bad ass cars. That said I understand and agree with the Cars and Coffee peoples ban. These aholes ruin things for everyone and anyone that condones this behavior needs to go
As allways, a lower IQ few ruin it for everyone.Money cant buy common sence.Man up and move on..
A better approach would’ve been to require the driver of modern muscle have a related front seat passenger who is at least 60 years old. Both must show a valid driver’s license and ride in the car coming and going.
…or a note from their Mother giving permission to drive the car.
(…and a number to call if there’s any funny-business going on.)
LOL! I like your sarcastic energy my guy.
Try to ban me at cars & coffee with my 22 Camaro Zl1 1LE . I’m 62 & a hot rodder since I could drive. There would be a serious law suit if that happened. Those punks that cause these problems mess up a good thing for guys like me who enjoy their performance cars.
Remember back in the day when the Police did there job. Now they just look the other way.
The dumbest thing ever is the Fast and Furious movies. It promotes being an idiot on the streets. Even the star of the movie was killed being a dumb ass on the street.
And how many videos are there of idiots wrecking exotics leaving these things?
Never quite understood the mentality of people walking around looking at garage queens with their hoods up.